


Echoes in the Dark

by leet911



Category: Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: Avatrice, F/F, One Shot, Post-Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26247394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leet911/pseuds/leet911
Summary: Maybe Ava's accepted being the halo-bearer and everything that entails.  But Beatrice lies awake at night and worries about the future — about their future together.
Relationships: Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva
Comments: 18
Kudos: 160





	Echoes in the Dark

* * *

Beatrice knows she should sleep.

“Four hours.” Mary had said. “We sleep four hours each in two shifts, then we move again.”

So Beatrice is here, with Ava, in this tiny stone room where two bare cots sit side by side while the others keep watch outside. Ava sleeps, and Beatrice fidgets.

Ava snores. Just a little bit, but only when she sleeps on her back. Beatrice notices these things. She notices everything about Ava.

They are next to each other in the dark, the thinnest slice of moonlight sneaking past the curtained window. And Beatrice knows she shouldn’t, but she is memorizing Ava’s face, the curve of her cheek, the line of her jaw, the rhythmic flutter of eyelids in her sleep. Beatrice has used faith as her armor for a long time. When challenged, she always knew exactly which verse to quote, which book to draw inspiration from, which prayer to recite. But this time, faith is not enough, and it has no answers. Her tears wet the threadbare pillow. Because for once, Beatrice is worried about actually succeeding in their mission, and what that might mean.

Ava stirs then, stretches and rolls towards her, eyes blinking open. Beatrice closes hers, hiding in reflex, but even if she were fast enough, it’s the tears that give her away.

“Hey,” Ava’s voice is soft, still slurred from sleep, “why are you crying?”

“It’s nothing.” Beatrice turns away, her practiced mask of indifference slamming into place.

The mattress creaks as Ava sidles closer, right to the boundary between the two cots. Beatrice feels a hand on her back, gentle.

“What’s wrong?”

Maybe it’s the fatigue, the lack of sleep, the far too many battles in too few days with not enough time to recover. Maybe it’s the stress, or the yearning, or the warmth at her back, or the fact she can’t help but be honest with Ava, but Beatrice is speaking all of a sudden. She is giving voice to all the frustration and anger that is rooted not in their mission, but what came before and what will come after. “What happens after we save the world? When we defeat Adriel? Do you go back to being dead? And what do I go back to? My family?”

"What about the church, can’t you go back to that?"

“The church that made me subjugate myself for a lie? Father Vincent lied to all of us. The entire Order was founded on a lie.”

There’s a long pause, a heavy silence punctuated with wet sniffling. When Beatrice turns back, they are nose to nose, and Ava is crying too. “What are we supposed to do?” Ava asks, “Let the world end?”

“Why does saving the world mean losing you?” Beatrice can’t know that’s how it will turn out of course. No one knows. But it’s a possibility, and just the thought of that scares her.

“You don’t need me.” Ava says, and Beatrice’s heart breaks because that can’t possibly be true. “You’re my guide, but I’m the halo-bearer. And after we stop Adriel, we won’t need halo-bearers anymore.”

_I’ll still need you._

And though Beatrice can’t bring herself to say those words out loud, Ava is here, crying right in front of her. And Beatrice has to show her she is needed. So Beatrice closes the gap between them, presses her mouth against Ava’s. Their lips and tongues move seemingly of their own will. The kiss is sloppy and frantic, filled with tears and gasps and bodies crushing into one another.

When they break apart, Ava’s eyes are closed, sharp breaths exhaled into the space between their faces. Beatrice wipes away tears with the back of a trembling hand. “What if I'm selfish? What if I want you to keep the halo? Not for power or anything like that. But just so you can stay a little longer with me. Is that so wrong?”

“It’s not wrong for you to want that. I know you would never **do** that.”

Beatrice wants to kiss her again. Because Ava believes. Ava, in her newfound optimism and unrepressed freedom, truly believes in them. Ava believes in Sister Beatrice, even in the darkness where moments of weakness abound.

So it’s Ava who moves this time. It’s Ava who puts her hands on either side of Beatrice’s face so she can kiss her slowly. It’s Ava who runs her fingers underneath the cap to tangle in dark hair. “No matter what happens, I’m here for you. In this life or the next, right?”

“In this life or the next,” Beatrice echoes, biting back a fresh set of tears. She reaches for Ava, and they fall asleep holding each other. Because Beatrice knows that even if most of her life has been built on lies, and Adriel might not be an angel, Ava clearly is.

* * *


End file.
